The Little Matchmaker
by susan friedman
Summary: A fill in between He Loves Me, He Loves Me Not. A young boy forces Almanzo to admit to himself just how much he cares about Laura. A one shot.


The Little Matchmaker

"Here you go," Almanzo said as he handed the little blond boy some left over rags.

"Thanks, Almanzo," Tommy said, grabbing them out of his hand. He smiled. "We've got to get back. Laura needs all the help she can get before the blind kids come next week. "

"Tell Laura, I said hello,"Almanzo called out, but it was too late. Tommy was already out the door.

"Why don't you tell her yourself?" Tommy's little shadow, JP asked as Almanzo handed him a pail of soapy water. "Everyone knows that you used to be her beau."

Used to? Almanzo thought as he watched the dark haired boy with tortoise shell glasses run off with the half-filled pail; the water spilling over the sides. "Slow down, JP," he called after him. "There'll be more water on the ground than in the pail by the time you get back to the schoolhouse."

But the boys hadn't heard him. Almanzo couldn't see them now. Hadn't he been the same way when he was their age? Both of them couldn't have been more than 9 years old. Well, he was full of energy at that age, but he had been told on more than one occasion to mind his own business.

He remembered how he felt when Eliza asked him about his intentions toward Laura. He didn't like it one bit, but it made him realize that his feelings for her were far more than friendship. And if he had waited for Eliza to come home before he made his hasty decision to leave for Sleepy Eye, she would have talked him into staying and to stop being his old stubborn self.

So now he knew that little John Peter was right. Maybe he should ask Beth how she was doing. He had admired how Laura got the neighborhood kids to help clean up the old courthouse. He couldn't believe that she had just walked in and rented it on the spot.

And he also couldn't believe that, although they were separated now for almost two months now, Almanzo just couldn't forget her. Although he tried, he had been unsuccessful in getting her out of his heart.

JP and Eliza were right. He should stop being stubborn and walk over, at least ask how she was doing as long as she was here in Sleepy Eye.

"Be back in a jif, Mr. Crowley," he called out. "I forgot to give the kids somethin'." He didn't wait for an answer; he was just going over to apologize to Beth and to see if he couldn't patch things up somehow. He did miss her and her presence here made it worse.

Almanzo managed to get out the door, but stopped halfway. He watched Beth walk out the boarded up doorway of the new blind school in what looked to be an old red dress. Her auburn hair was tied back in a kerchief and she was carrying a box filled with he didn't know what, probably some things that had been found inside.

She hadn't seen him; her head was down. Almanzo took a deep breath. It was now or never.

XXXXXXXXXX

Laura was busy sorting out some old junk that she found inside the courthouse. She wanted to see what she could keep and what she should throw out. The kids had finished cleaning up the bottom windows. She now had JP, Tommy and little Samuel mopping and sweeping the floors.

"Hi Beth."

She heard him before she saw him. She knew who it was; she just didn't expect to see him, here in Sleepy Eye of all places. She looked up.

"Hi Manly, what are you doing here?"

"I'm livin' here now," Almanzo answered. "Got a job down at the store doin' some clerkin' and loadin'."

He asked some questions about her family, but she was in a daze. She didn't know if she was angry or happy to see him.

"Fine," she answered to each of his questions.

"How are you doing?"

They both said it at the same time and had both laughed about it, but that was as far as the conversation got.

"I'll be here for two weeks. I'm going to stay here for awhile," she said for lack of anything else.

"I'm surprised your Pa would let you out of his sight for that long, seeing as how he loved you so much," a bit surprised at his answer. He was trying to make up with her, wasn't he?

"Well, I've been out of your sight for a lot longer than that and you were supposed to have loved me," she countered.

"I didn't make that decision, it was yours. You made that choice."

Laura was getting angry now. "You didn't give me any choice!"

"That's great," he said as calmly as he knew how. He shook his head. "But I'm glad you'll be back for two weeks. It'll give us another chance to argue."

She stood up and looked at him squarely in the eyes. " Don't come around and you won't have to argue," she answered back as calmly as knew how. She picked up the box and was about to walk away when Houston Lamb, the caretaker and Mr. Pims, the landlord, walked out the door.

It was the wrong time to do this, especially with Almanzo standing around watching her with his hat in his hands. Laura didn't want to look so helpless in front of him. She wanted him to see her as an adult, not as a kid. She wanted him to see her as a successful, grownup little lady, not some person who couldn't afford to pay Mr. Pims the extra twenty dollars she needed for the rent money.

Laura wanted his respect, she did not want Almanzo to see her as vulnerable.

And when Houston and Mr. Pims disappeared inside, she knew that she had been defeated.

"Goodbye Almanzo," Laura said, turning towards him, the box still in her hands. And with a swish of her long red dress, she was gone, just like that.

XXXXXXXXXX

He stared after her as she disappeared inside the courthouse. He lowered his head, shook it and looked up again. Almanzo stared toward the door as if he expected Beth to walk out any minute.

"That didn't work out too well, did it?"

He turned his head toward the voice and saw JP standing there. "No, it didn't, John Peter," he said softly, almost to himself.

"She cares about you," JP said, looking in his eye. "She misses you a whole lot."

"Did she tell you that?"

JP shook his head. "I overheard her this morning."

Almanzo smiled. She must have been talking to Mary. He'd seen her around town with Adam.

"I care about her too, JP," Almanzo answered. He looked away from the boy and stared at the door once again.

"Sure doesn't seem like it," JP said, shaking his head.

Almanzo frowned at him. Maybe the boy was right. It didn't seem like he cared anymore, even to himself. But now he was determined to change. He knew what he had to do. He didn't know how he was going to get the money, but he knew he had to get it somehow and he'd get it to her even if it killed him.

"See ya, JP. If you need more soap and water, you know where to get it."

And Almanzo turned to go, leaving JP on the front porch watching as he walked away.


End file.
